Research

Coalition Management and Escalation Control in a Multinuclear World

This project focuses on crisis management, escalation control, and strategic stability in a multinuclear era. Dual-use, nuclear-relevant technologies are proliferating and a number of non-nuclear states are reassessing their security options. These trends suggest a need for increased coordination among allies and partners, especially in the context of coalition responses to crisis confrontations and potential nuclear blackmail, and they demand new thinking about deterrence and escalation management overall.

Finding the Right Mix: Disaster Diplomacy, National Security, and International Cooperation

IFPA undertook this project, completed in 2009, to provide U.S. policy makers with enhanced tools for planning, managing, and concluding a major disaster operation effectively and in a manner that explicitly advances U.S. strategic objectives.

In Times of Crisis: Global and Local Civil-Military Disaster Relief Coordination in the United States and Japan

With support from the Japan Foundation's Center for Global Partnership (CGP), IFPA led this collaborative effort, completed in 2009, by U.S. and Japanese specialists to conduct research and foster dialogue among civilian and military groups for the purposes of improving their civil-military communication in domestic and international crises.

Building on the Trilateral Coordination and Oversight Group (TCOG): Exploring the Prospects for Expanding the TCOG Process as a Key U.S.-South Korea and U.S.-Japan Alliance Management Tool

This two-year project was completed in 2005. With a grant from the Japan Foundation’s Center for Global Partnership (CGP) IFPA collaborated with leading policy research institutions in Japan and South Korea on a policy research project to strengthen the U.S.-Japan and U.S.-South Korea relationships and enhance regional stability by improving the tools for alliance management.

In this joint two-year study completed in 2002, IFPA and the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) examined issues and policy options on joint crisis management between Japan and the United States, exploring how Tokyo and Washington might better prepare for and respond to an array of crisis scenarios ranging from traditional security threats to emerging challenges.

Publications

In Times of Crisis: U.S.-Japan Civil-Military Disaster Relief Coordination

James L. Schoff and Marina Travayiakis

May 2009, 144 pp

The many large-scale natural disasters and ambitious nation-building projects over the last several years call attention to the potential value of deploying national military assets in support of disaster relief and recovery efforts, as well as to the challenges that disaster relief agencies and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) face when working closely with the military. Both U.S. and Japanese policy makers understand that leveraging military resources during a disaster is an opportunity to save lives and property, to help maintain stability and prosperity in affected nations, and to promote the allies' diplomatic interests, but it must be done carefully. Together with a handful of other key countries, the United States and Japan can help form a valuable crisis core group that cooperates in support of large-scale, UN-led disaster relief operations, but effective civil-military coordination is essential to making this work. The In Times of Crisis project was a multi-year joint effort of the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis (IFPA) and the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), involving practitioners and policy makers from both countries, the United Nations, and NGOs through interviews and bilateral workshops. This monograph explains the team's findings and ways to improve the allies' ability to effectively pool civilian and military resources and to respond together (bilaterally or as part of a broader coalition) in support of host nations and international relief agencies to speed recovery in times of crisis.

This study focuses on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR). It explores ways to make civil-military cooperation more effective in supporting a whole-of-government strategy for addressing twenty-first century threats. It is designed to assist those responsible for the management of large-scale HA/DR efforts achieve a greater unity of effort and division of labor among the diverse civilian and military, national and international, and public and private sector entities to execute such operations. It identifies critical capabilities and key operational challenges; reviews existing and proposed cooperative mechanisms to facilitate disaster relief planning, training, and implementation; and examines several recent cases of disaster response for lessons learned.

This 2007 report, based in part on the results of a 2006 IFPA-led multilateral workshop held in Tokyo, Japan, reviews current international efforts to mitigate the potentially devastating effect of a pandemic influenza, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. It also examines the national and military planning efforts of the United States, Japan, and the Republic of Korea in addressing this emerging crisis, and it explores options for improved multilateral cooperation in disaster response planning.

Events

In Times of Crisis: U.S.-Japan Civil-Military Coordination for Disaster Relief Missions

October 28, 2008, Tokyo, Japan

Participants reviewed recent civil-military coordination in each country and at the United Nations, discussed the likely future course of these trends, evaluated efforts to date regarding the strengthening of allied cooperation, and discussed possible improvements.

Military officers, government representatives, and foreign policy experts from the United States, Japan, and the Republic of Korea gathered for a one-day workshop to discuss the potential threat of a pandemic influenza in the Asia-Pacific region. The event was co-sponsored by the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis, the Institute of World Studies at Takushoku University, and the United States Pacific Command (PACOM).